The Wedding Present: The Cruel Pull Of FateIn "Santa Ana Winds," The Wedding Present's perpetually buoyant indie-pop highlights the sweetness of a romantic situation stripped of its complications. Singer David Gedge spins his nervous tale of flirtation and unfaithfulness with a potent blend of new-crush giddiness and looming dread.

Santa Ana winds are often responsible for some kind of devastation, so it's fitting that The Wedding Present's David Gedge opens his tale of infidelity with a passing reference to them. Set over a dark and ominous riff, Gedge spins his nervous tale of flirtation and unfaithfulness with a potent blend of new-crush giddiness and looming dread. "The fact I've won the jackpot means I've lost a whole lot more," he sings, building to the chorus' key line: "And that's when I pretend that I don't have a girlfriend."

That may sound a bit tawdry and self-serving, but The Wedding Present's perpetually buoyant indie-pop and wide-eyed lines — "Are you falling for me, too?" — highlight the sweetness of a romantic situation stripped of its complications. Gedge's skillful storytelling perfectly describes the cruel pull of fate that can happen when you meet the right person at the wrong time, not to mention the destruction that often strikes when nature runs its course.